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The body of a veteran climber who fell 1,500ft into the crater of Mount St. Helens volcano has been recovered today after he spent more than a day in the snow. High winds and low cloud had hampered efforts to reach Joseph Bohlig, 52, who was posing for a picture on the rim of the dormant crater when a snow overhang ...

DALLAS - Dallas ISD has failed to install fire alarms in hundreds of portable buildings across the district, violating fire codes and leaving students without the built-in protection of blaring alerts that signal a blaze on campus. Portable buildings at Kleberg Elementary in Rylie are among the many at southern Dallas schools that are not connected to the main building's fire ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Firefighters spent a portion of their Sunday shutting hydrants that were apparently opened by people looking to get relief from the hot weather. At the corner of South Ohio Avenue and Siebert Street, a fire hydrant was opened at least four times on Sunday, it was reported. One firefighter said that he has responded to 15 reports of ...

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A 911 dispatcher in Missoula who broadcast a false report of an explosion as an April Fool's Day prank will be suspended for one week but will not be prosecuted. Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg said Thursday it would be "extremely difficult" to establish criminal intent in the case. The request for an emergency response came ...

PHILADELPHIA - Capt. Troy K. Gore, an officer detailed to the Philadelphia Fire Department's recruitment team, was placed on paid leave yesterday over allegations that he proposed a scheme to bring in more minority candidates by doctoring the city's computerized application process. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers announced the move and said he was opening an investigation into an e-mail sent last ...

DETROIT - Detroit firefighters had to battle strong winds, hot and dry conditions, downed power lines and a lack of equipment and manpower at the same time they fought about 85 fires that erupted in four hours Tuesday afternoon. No fatalities or serious injuries were reported, though dozens of homes were destroyed -- including 18 vacant houses, two occupied homes and ...

CLINTON — Firefighter Dean S. Weeks was on duty last night when the call came in that his restaurant, Tailgaters Grille, just 300 yards from the fire station on Main Street, was on fire. Firefighters at the station this morning were saddened over the loss of what they called Mr. Weeks' dream and passion. “We're heartbroken,” said Firefighter John W. Kobus. ...

BELLEVILLE, IL - Two people aboard a small private plane are unaccounted for after the plane crashed into an airplane hangar and home in the Villa Hills area about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Signal Hill Fire Chief Greg Render. Render wouldn't confirm the two aboard had been killed, but he said no one was recovered from the plane and that ...

NEW YORK - A Long Island town's fire chief and a New York City firefighter were arrested Tuesday for brandishing guns while threatening a pedestrian, officials said. Michael Charles, the Hempstead fire chief, held a handgun on his hip while Brian Schuck, an eight-year-FDNY veteran, toted a shotgun when they harassed a man walking down a Hempstead street Sunday afternoon, Nassau ...

BOSTON - A federal judge in Maine, sentencing a 32-year-old former Boston firefighter on a marijuana-growing charge this week, noted that the man had admitted smoking about 2 ounces of the drug each week during the time he worked as a firefighter, prosecutors said. The comments came when Sean Berte was sentenced Thursday by US District Judge George Z. Singal in ...

MONTECITO, Calif.—The California Highway Patrol is investigating why a firefighter was handcuffed for refusing to move a fire engine from a freeway in Santa Barbara County. CHP Capt. Jeff Sgobba says the incident on Feb. 15 was rare, regrettable and embarrassing. The confrontation took place in Montecito when CHP officers responded to a freeway crash that caused minor injuries. Sgobba says ...

BOSTON - Federal prosecutors trying an ex-Boston firefighter on fraud charges this week plan to graphically chart what they say was the jake’s robust, healthy lifestyle of playing baseball and competing in bodybuilding contests while he was being paid to sit home with a bad back. Albert Arroyo, 49, of Roslindale is accused of applying for tax-free accidental-disability retirement benefits for ...

LOS ANGELES—A new report says poor communications and unexpected fire conditions caused the deaths of two firefighters whose truck plunged off a mountain road last year during a massive Los Angeles County wildfire. Capt. Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones died on Aug. 30 during the 250-square-mile Station fire in the foothills above Los Angeles. A county Fire Department report issued this ...

HARTFORD — - The fire lieutenant who led the initial attack on the ferocious blaze that consumed William Beckerman's 3,200-square-foot West Hartford home last February was the first witness called Wednesday in Beckerman's trial on charges that he set the fire. Lt. Chris Gordon, who retired from the West Hartford Fire Department in July, described being confronted with blinding smoke as ...

NEW YORK — A woman who lost seven children and her husband in a 1978 arson at their home near Albany was questioned again this week as investigators put renewed effort into solving the case. No one was ever charged for setting the fire 32 years ago in Cohoes. Detectives traveled to Okanogan, Wash., and spent several hours Wednesday questioning Virginia ...

CHICAGO - Mayor Daley’s appointment of third-generation firefighter Robert Hoff to replace ousted Fire Commissioner John Brooks sailed through a City Council committee on Monday — with a promise from Hoff to embrace older black applicants bypassed by the city’s discriminatory handling of a 1995 firefighters exam. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that African-American applicants did not wait too ...

NEWARK, NJ - Derron Brice was a Navy Corpsman for eight years and has a Desert Storm ribbon. He has been a paramedic for UMDNJ in Newark for four years. He has seen trauma from gunshots, schrapnel, blunt force; all the things, as he says in paramedic vernacular, make “bodies no longer viable.” He has seen his share of such bodies. ...

UPDATED CHARLES CITY (AP) — Authorities in Floyd County say the Assistant Charles City Fire Chief needed the help of his department after a trench collapse trapped him up to his armpits in soil. The Charles City Fire Department was called to Assistant Chief David Boehmer's home Monday afternoon. Firefighters say Boehmer was working on a new home on his property ...

SPRINGFIELD - A 26-year-old Springfield man was arrested late Tuesday in connection with a fire that led to the deaths of three children. Shortly before 11 p.m. Greene County Jail officials confirmed a man was booked on a 24-hour hold pending the filing of formal charges. He was arrested by Springfield police officers on suspicion of first-degree arson, according to online ...

WALTHAM - A 21-year-old auxiliary firefighter from Waltham died Nov. 21 of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Lexington. Jonathan R. Lindsay was a lifelong resident of Waltham and worked as an EMT for LifeLine and Cataldo ambulance services. He had been a Waltham Auxiliary Firefighter since age 16. Mr. Lindsay joined the Waltham Auxiliary Fire Department in February 2006 ...